Scooters and other forms of micro-transportation are becoming increasingly popular in cities across the United States, including Panama City and other Florida metropolitan areas, where a variety of transportation options are in high demand. While these scooters offer a great alternative to traveling by foot or by car, they pose various new risks that Panama City statutes and Florida legislation have yet to catch up with. A Panama City motorcycle accident lawyer knows the biggest issues is the fact that drivers struggle to recognize how scooters fit in with pedestrian and cycling traffic laws, which can lead to miscommunications and errors that lead to accidents. At the same time, many people who hop on a scooter to get around are equally ignorant of their responsibilities in terms of traffic safety and right-of-way limitations, which can further complicate matters.
The insurance claims process after any type of accident can be very complicated and confusing, especially when a relatively new method of transportation like an e-scooter is involved. Insurance companies use this to their advantage by pushing back on as many damages as possible or leveraging the uncertainty about certain traffic laws to pin additional fault on the scooter rider. The team of Panama City personal injury lawyers at Fasig | Brooks has worked aggressively to understand the current laws and regulations relating to these types of transportation in order to provide the best possible support for our clients following a scooter accident.
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We offer a free consultation to personal injury victims, including those injured on scooters in a Panama City accident. During this consultation, we will be happy to go over the specifics of your situation, such as the events leading up to the crash, the type of injuries you have sustained, the actions of the other individuals involved, and more. Once we have established a basic understanding of the situation we will be able to provide you with some insights about our legal approach, give specific advice about how we advise you to proceed, and ultimately determine how we can best work together to help you get the money you deserve.
Read more below about scooter accidents and how to get the money you are rightfully entitled to when someone else caused your crash. Contact us as soon as possible to get started on your case today.
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Who Is At Fault For Your Scooter Accident?
Determining fault is an important step after an accident in order to establish who is liable to pay for the damages. Florida uses a law known as comparative fault, which allows for a victim to accept partial responsibility in an accident and still have a right to seek compensation for their injuries. Under a comparative fault law, the final award is reduced by the percentage that the victim is responsible for the accident. This is a much better law than the alternative, known as contributory negligence, which would bar the victim from seeking any compensation if they contributed to their own injuries in any capacity. However, insurance companies leverage this law in order to reduce their financial obligation, often working to push up a victim’s percentage of fault purely to save money. Your attorney will work hard to ensure that you do not accept any fault that is not your own.
Due to the fact that scooters are such new transportation methods, insurance companies can use the fact that there are not long-established laws to their advantage, again by focusing on ways to pin additional fault on the victim. When a victim is going through a claim without the help of an experienced scooter attorney, it can be easy for them to second-guess their rights and accidentally undermine their settlement award. Fasig | Brooks is here to fight for the compensation you deserve.
In order to determine fault after any accident, there are a number of details that can help tell the complete story. Depending on the circumstances of your scooter crash, we may be able to use any of the following to paint a full picture:
- Police reports
- Eyewitness accounts
- Your statement
- The other party’s statement
- Any citations the other party received
- Surveillance videos or dashboard camera footage
- Accident reconstructions
Some accidents are much more straightforward than others, but no matter how clear the matter of fault may be, seeking an award for the damages you have suffered is a separate and complex process as well.
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Calculating Damages After a Scooter Accident
The term “damages” refers to any measurable impact of a personal injury and assigns monetary compensation for impacts that may or may not have dollar values associated with them. These compensatory damages are divided into two distinct sub-categories, discussed below in greater detail. A personal injury lawyer spends a substantial amount of their time on a case researching, investigating, and cataloging the numerous impacts that a victim will endure after an accident. This attention to detail, combined with years of experience negotiating settlement agreements, is what makes the difference between a settlement award that fairly compensates you versus a settlement award that benefits the insurance company’s bottom line only.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are those damages that have measurable market values. These damages are measured by receipts, invoices, bills, tax statements, earnings slips, and other financial tools that prove the victim (or their insurance company) has either spent or lost money following the accident. The most common economic damages are medical bills and lost wages, but there are multitudes of additional economic damages that most victims are owed. Many of these minor damages are easy to overlook, but when an experienced attorney is able to include all of these damages in their settlement counter-offers, a victim is able to avoid taking on the financial burden of someone else’s dangerous behavior.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are more complicated to calculate than economic damages because they do not have market values or a simple way to evaluate a dollar amount that fairly compensates the victim. These damages include things like the pain and suffering a scooter accident victim must endure because of their injuries, as well as things like the trauma of the accident and other physiological or emotional impacts from this dangerous, painful experience. While these damages are certainly more difficult to measure, they are equally important when compensating a victim. Insurance companies are more likely to push back on these damages because of how abstract they are, and it is easy for an inexperienced claimant to second-guess their rights and accept less than they deserve. With an attorney handling your case, you don’t need to worry about defending your own estimates or negotiating your own settlement.
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Contact Fasig | Brooks Today
The sooner you reach out to our law firm for help, the sooner we can begin building a strong case to fight for the money you deserve. Your top priority in the aftermath of a scooter accident should be your recovery, and when we are handling your legal and administrative issues, you can focus on your health without the added stress and anxiety that so often plagues someone’s recovery after an accident that someone else caused.
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